The numbers this week: 1 new Supreme Court Justice, 2 dead local politicians, 25 replaced PNP directors, and a whole lot of rice problems!
(There is none because the President is not worried about the threats on his life. He said: If it is time, it is time. But now, there is no such threat.)
More conflicting information coming from Malacañang. The Palace says the Reds and Yellows have united to oust or assassinate Duterte, then they walk back on that. The Palace says the Church is boring to oust or assassinate Duterte, then they walk back on that. Bong Go and Lorraine Badoy both claim attempts were made on Duterte's life and offer no proof. Duterte claims the CIA wants to kill him and offers no proof and all his men contradict him. It's just a mess. Every word coming out of the Palace on this issue is simply not believable.
"Her appointment as chief justice is a fitting finale to her illustrious career in both the Department of Justice and the judiciary," Guevarra said.
According to the justice secretary, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea will release De Castro's formal appointment on Tuesday, August 28.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque hailed De Castro as the "best choice" for chief justice.
"Bravo! Best choice for CJ! Proven competence, known nationalist, and a streak of being a judicial activist!" he said on Saturday in a message to reporters.
Duterte favored De Castro over her fellow senior magistrates, Associate Justices Lucas Bersamin and Diosdado Peralta.
De Castro will be chief justice for less than two months since she retires on October 8. In her interview before the Judicial and Bar Council, she said her short term would not get in the way of her effectiveness as chief magistrate.
What is the point of appoint this lady to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when she will only serve for two months? The whole selection process will have to be repeated. Such a move will not stifle the voices who will say this is payback for ousting Sereno in what many see as an illegal move, quo warranto. Also there is this:
Another failed promise or just a joke?
The PNP is bravely showing its crime fighting skills by singing at the mall.
Senior Supt. Manuela Abrugena, Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) director, said that he ordered the replacement of 25 police directors because of their poor performance. Other police directors were also directed to take some refresher courses.
And what will happen to the poor performing directors? Will they be recycled somewhere?
(It’s very safe for consumption. The NFA Administrator even has instructions that once fumigation is done, the first ones who will eat the rice will be from the NFA. We will show the public that the NFA officials and administrator can eat the infested rice that was fumigated.)
Authorities discovered last Wednesday over 100,000 sacks of imported rice from Thailand infested with rice weevils at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
Estoperez said it will take seven to 12 days to kill the pests.
He also stressed that the cost of fumigation would be charged to the rice supplier and not the government.
The NFA official further explained that it is natural for rice to be infested with rice weevils, especially when stored for a long time.
Because the government did not plan ahead and import enough rice,
Duterte even halted the importation of rice, they had to go ahead with emergency importations and the result is rice infested with weevils that the NFA swear is safe to eat once it has been sprayed wth poison! Once again it is the poor who are bearing the brunt of Duterte's misguided policies.
In a press briefing last week, PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde tagged the following as the cities with the highest crime rates: Santiago City, Isabela in Region 2; Angeles City in Pampanga and Olongapo City in Zambales in Region 3; Region Puerto Princesa City in Palawan in Region 4-B; and Naga City in Region 5.
However, it was later discovered that Albayalde mistook the region’s number for the ranking.
The PNP Chief was so quick to want to justify Duterte'c claim that Naga, the home of VP Robredo, is a crime hotbed, that he stumbled all over the facts!
Another town councillor involved in the drug trade.
Meanwhile, in Barangay Luna, Placer, Rommie Bagaan and Eric Tupas, chief of the said village and president of “Liga ng mga Barangay,” were killed by men riding in tandem around 6 p.m.
Killed by motorcycle men means it could be anyone.
Peralta explained that the lower courts find it impossible to comply with the “humanly impossible” requirements under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Article XI, Section 90 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 states that cases must be resolved not later than 60 days from the date of filing of the Information (charge sheet). The decision on the case must be issued within 15 days from submission. However, he said the courts are “having a hard time.”
Peralta explained that the counting should start after the arraignment. Arraignment means the accused is brought to court and inform him of the nature and cause of the allegations against him or her.
He added that if the trial and reception of evidence will be scheduled during arraignment in drug cases, one court will have to try six or seven cases in one day which is physically impossible considering the evidence to examine and listen to witnesses’ testimony.
Slow justice. If they are having that hard a time then perhaps there need to be more judges.
"Including them, of course, as a part of gesture for appreciation is part of the reason why they will be joining the trip but, obviously, for a security personnel, a trip to Israel would entail collaborating and mingling with security forces of Israel in order for our men in uniform to benefit from the experience of Israel, particularly in their drive against extremism and terrorism," Roque said in a press briefing.
Since these police and military officers are retiring then there is no way they will be benefiting from mingling with the IDF and taking back lessons to implement in the fight against terrorism. ROque's reasoning falls flat on it's face, the whole project stinks, and Duterte is once gain reneging on a vow he has made.
Medialdea said that official foreign travel should only be allowed if the trip is “strictly within the mandate” of the official; projected trip expenses “are not expensive,” and the travel is “expected to bring substantial benefit” to the country.
How do any of those criteria apply to retiring police and military officers accompanying Duterte to Israel on the public dime? They don't! As a side note I am calling it now that Duterte dons a yarmulke and does obeisances at the Wailing Wall just like all visiting heads of state to Israel.
The case stemmed from the complaint filed by businesswoman Maria Luz Dumaluan, who accused Degoma of failing to render an accounting and refusing to give the correct share in the income and the return of investment from their joint business.
In her affidavit, Dumaluan said that in 2017, Degoma offered to be her business partner when the complainant was offered to acquire the franchise of a 7-Eleven store on the ground floor of the businesswoman’s building in Barangay Poblacion, Panglao.
Both women agreed that Dumaluan, as the sole owner, would get a 10-percent return on investment (ROI) from the monthly net income of the business, plus 60 percent of the remaining balance.
Degoma, like the one running the store, would get 40 percent.
Fraud and dishonesty. What else is new?
During yesterday’s hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on ways and means on rice smuggling, Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua, committee chairman, reiterated his proposal for smuggled rice to be distributed to typhoon and flood victims and poor families.
He asked Department of Finance (DOF) Undersecretary Karl Chua if Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III would allow it.
“The last time we met, I brought it up and he is OK with it. He has no objection. We have to look into how to do it,” he said.
Cua said the law allows the BOC to declare confiscated contraband as forfeited in favor of the government and then decide what to do with it.
In the case of smuggled rice, he said it could be given to the poor.
If it were auctioned – another option open to the BOC under the law – Cua said smuggled rice might find its way to the smuggler who could use dummies to offer winning bids.
Sen. Cynthia Villar said the government should consider imposing price controls for rice as a temporary measure to stabilize prices of the staple.
“I think that’s (price controls) the best way to make rice traders follow and discourage them from doing that (jacking up prices),” Villar said.
Piñol, for his part, is proposing to legalize rice smuggling operations to address the supply shortage in Zamboanga-Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi (Zambasulta) area.
He said this is the most practical option right now to address the rice shortage.
“Instead of running after the smugglers, why don’t we establish a rice trading center in Tawi-Tawi where all rice coming from the outside would be brought to that center, be documented with minimal tariff to be imposed,” Piñol said.
While the proposal is subject to NFA Council approval, Piñol said this has been consulted with the local government units in Zambasulta.
“If we legalize it, it will no longer be smuggled, the moment you put it in the trading center and with the payment of the tariff,” Piñol said.
Instead of selling or giving away smuggled cars Duterte had them destroyed and now instead of destroying smuggled rice the government wants to give it to the poor and one bonehead politician, the Agriculture Secretary in fact, wants to legalise the illegal rice trade. What a brilliant bunch of people these are who have needlessly caused a crisis by not importing enough rice from the get go. That whole article is full of mess up after mess up. One ship full of rice cannot even leave the docks because of the heavy seas!
This sounds like a good and humane proposal but really why should anyone be hired just because their relative died?
With the seniority rule restored in the appointment of the chief justice, Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio is now willing to vie for the top judicial post next month when the current chief magistrate ends her barely two-month stint.
Upon retirement, chief justices receive retirement pay in lump sum equivalent to their existing salary multiplied by the number of years of service in government.
After five years, they will get monthly pension equivalent to the monthly salary of the incumbent chief justice.
The SC also provides retired chief justices with two or three staff, including a security escort. Retired associate justices do not enjoy such privilege.
In the case of De Castro, her current salary grade of 32 is equivalent to 246,618 per month under the third tranche of salary increase for government personnel. Upon retirement, her salary will be multiplied by 45 years.
It remains to be seen if Duterte will keep his word about seniority and appoint Carpio as the next SC CJ. But it is a definite fact that upon retirement De Castro will receive a P11 million lump sum as well as staff and a security escort for barely two months of work! And all of that will be paid by the tax payers. Is it any wonder many people believe she was given this post as a reward for her rollin ousting Sereno?
"I am biased in favor of tax reform and I believe the tax reform of President Duterte will bring us to the next level of development," Arroyo said in an interview with CNN Philippines that aired on Wednesday evening.
More than half of American companies in the country warned they would not expand their operations if the government would insist on the scheduled transition to a new tax regime under the second package of the tax reform program.
Arroyo had better think again if she thinks this tax reform bill will boost business. Why does she refer to it as "the tax reform of President Duterte?" Did he write these bills? Is he a legislator now?
Mayor Paula Carla Galvez-Tan on Wednesday stepped down to serve a nine-month suspension imposed by the Office of the Ombudsman for interrupting a municipal council session last year due to a budget dispute.
Well it's not plunder at least.
“No more ‘Laboracay’ parties, why? Because, first we have a carrying capacity, and with ‘Laboracay’ we have about 60,000 to 70,000 tourists in three days. Definitely, Boracay island cannot accommodate that number of people,” Puyat said.
Why are they even going to reopen Boracay if they want it to fully heal? If people can't party on the beach why would they even come?
Filipinos should practice family planning as increasing family size will make them more vulnerable to poverty due to inflation, the Commission on Population (Popcom) said.
“The size of the family really affects the basic needs if the prices continue to rise up,” Popcom deputy executive director Lolito Tocardon said on the sidelines of the Regional Population Management Congress held Wednesday in this city.
Family planning will not alleviate the effects of inflation felt NOW. Does he expect inflation to continue to rise? That is not what the economic planners have forecast. Should families consult the economic numbers to decide whether or not to have children? It's all too ridiculous. Just own up that the TRAIN law has goofed the floor.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the National Food Authority for “giving undue advantage to selected retailers” in Ilocos and Cavite provinces by allowing them to procure thousands of bags of NFA rice in excess of their weekly allocations.
So alleged that NFA willfully, intentionally and feloniously disregarded the law and their mandate and used up the fund allocated to them under RA 10924, amounting to P5.1 billion, for payment of maturing obligations showing not only the blatant mismanagement of funds and placing the Philippines in an unstable position where people suffer from the continuing increase in prices of rice and corn.
He said that on Dec. 22, 2016, RA 10924 was signed by President Duterte, allocating P5.1 billlion to the NFA to be used specifically to stabilize the prices and supply of rice and corn.
The NFA is actually considering legalising rice smuggling while they have allegedly been engaged in their own illegal practices. With talk of abolishing the NFA and all these sandals how much more can they take?
"How could divulging the exact number of his diplomatic actions against China, the dates and times they were made, and the nature of these protests compromise our national security? It is absurd. You don't need an executive session for that. I was not even asking the content of these protests but simply the basic features of his claim," Hontiveros said.
Cayetano has refused to bare the details of the protests and insisted that he would reveal them in a closed-door session.
Hontiveros should take him up on his offer. Close the door, take a look at the protests, and then she and others who also see can report to the people that yes indeed the DFA has filed so many protest to China over their actions in the SCS.
"You're better off with a dictator the likes of Marcos. That is what I suggested. Puwede kayo mag (You can go for) constitutional succession, it's Robredo, but she cannot hack it," he said on Thursday night, August 30, during Mandaue City's charter day.
Has there ever been a country where the President and Vice President do not work together as a team?
